Today anchor Meredith Vieira’s husband Richard Cohen dies age 76 after decades-long multiple sclerosis battle

Former Today anchor Meredith Vieira’s husband Richard Cohen has died at age 76, after overcoming cancer twice and battling multiple sclerosis for over five decades.

The Today show shared the news on Tuesday morning that he had passed away on Christmas Eve following a battle with pneumonia.

Hoda Kotb said on the show that he was ‘surrounded by his family and love’ when he died. 

Richard was an acclaimed journalist, TV producer, and author who previously served as a senior producer on CNN and CBS News.

He also wrote columns for the Health and Fitness section of the New York Times. 

The couple wed in 1986 and welcomed three kids together, sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32.

Richard was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 25 years old.

‘I was diagnosed when I was 25 years old and essentially told there is no hope,’ he previously told the publication. ‘Diagnosed and adios. Nothing much we can do.’

He and Meredith (seen in 2019) wed in 1986 and welcomed three kids together, sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32

Richard also battled colon cancer twice – first in 1999 and again in 2000 – and was legally blind.

He wrote an autobiography on living with blindness in 2004, entitled, Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir.

Meredith is best known for being a co-host on the Today show from 2006 until 2011.

She also was one of the original moderators and co-hosts on The View and hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for 11 seasons from 2002 until 2013. 

She launched her own talk show, called The Meredith Vieira Show, in 2014 and it went on for two seasons.

She is now the host of the Fox game series 25 Words or Less.